Ghost Collapse
by Herald of Light
Summary: A serial murderer sets his sights on Motoko as she is facing her own internal termoil. T for now for violence and some language.
1. Chapter 1

It had been too long a day. Three murders and a suicide all within three blocks of Section 9 HQ and to top it all off, all four cases showed signs of hacking in their cyberbrains.

Or what was left of them.

The last three weeks had been just like that, death surrounding Motoko like a blanket, and she was nearing her breaking point.

She rolled over on her bed, seeing her roommate there with her. She had had a similarly, though less dramatic, stressful time, and she had snapped. Motoko had just spent the last two hours trying to calm her down. She would call her family tomorrow and tell them that she was going to need a vacation or help soon, or else there would be yet more death around Motoko.

"Major, is everything ok? It looks almost like you are crying." One of the Tachikomas popped in her vision. With all the things happening, the chief had ordered the Tachikomas to shadow the members of Section 9, and protect them. Major hadn't liked the idea at first, but now she did. It was the first one to express concern for her in what felt like forever. Batou was out of the country, on assignment in the American Empire, training their cyber-police in Section 9's tactics and investigation styles. He was the only one that could fully understand her, the only one she let really.

"I'm fine, Tachikoma. Just the stress of the last month is finally getting to me." She got up out of bed, carefully as to not wake up her sleeping roommate. She walked slowly to refrigerator and pulled out a can of beer and opened it.

"Poor Major, is there anything I can do to help?"

sigh "Unless you have programming I don't know about that would allow me to get drunk. I don't think so. What time would it be in the US where Batou is right now?"

"It is now 11:14 AM in New Washington DC."

"Hmm, those Americans won't take a lunch break for another hour at least. That means that I can't contact Batou." She drained the beer and put the can in the recycling bin. "I'm going to take a sedative to go to sleep Tachikoma. If an emergency arises, do you know what to do?"

"Yes! I will inject 50cc of adrenaline into your bloodstream."

"No, that would be a little much. Just connect to me and use a small electric shock, okay?"

"Oh! Why wouldn't I just inject you?"

"I'll tell you in the morning." She was standing at the bathroom mirror as she took the pills out of the bottle. 'You've been taking too many of these lately. If you aren't careful, you could become dependent…..right?' Setting the pill bottle inside the cabinet, she shuffled back to the bed, feeling the effects of the drug already.

Two hours later….

"Kill….Kill….." The voice, it came from nowhere, the words dripping with intent.

And her blood.

Wherever she ran, everyone repeated those words: "Kill Motoko….Kill Motoko…..Kill…" Everyone at Section 9, the Tachikomas, she even ran into the Prime Minister, no one sided with her. Instead, on sight, they began to chase her. Using her body's full ability, she began to run for the lone place she knew to be safe, her safe house. But soon people were catching up to her in cars, planes, helicopters, motorcycles. Batou even began running beside her, saying those now terrifying words:

"Kill Motoko…"

Knowing that soon her legs would give out, she jumped off the freeway she had been running on. It was a thirty foot drop, but her diagnostic showed that her legs were still okay, for now.

"I can't shoot them… they are my friends, the closest thing I have to family. The others are civilians. And to shoot the Prime Minister would be…." She stopped talking to herself as she saw a trap just ahead.

The people had climbed onto each other and formed a human wall. If she didn't stop on her own, they would stop her.

'I can't see beyond them! What if they have done something to block behind them! Damnit! I'd better just keep going, better to commit suicide trying to escape than be murdered.'

Shunting the last ounces her strength to her legs, she sprinted the rest of the way to the 'wall.' At the last second she jumped and covered the last few feet spiraling through them. The sounds of breaking cybernetic parts filled her ears, and the fragments and blood splashed all over her, leaving holes and staining her skin.

"Kill…." Was all they said.

Beyond them was a building. She smashed in through a window, stood up to find that there was nothing she could do.

She had been caught. Surrounding her were her closest friends, guns drawn. As she stood there the Chief walked up to her and cuffed her. "Kill….Not here….back there…." She got a good look in his eyes; they were lifeless, like he was a zombie.

Tears welled up into her eyes. Was this her destiny? Was she to have all her 'friends' turn on her? She knew that sooner or later that death would finally take her, taking revenge for all the time she had cheated it, but surely it wouldn't be like this, she would die in battle, right?

Someone approached her from behind and stunned her.

She awoke later to find that she was strapped down on a surgical table, nude. She was all alone as she tried to break free from her ties, finding that her motor functions were offline.

"DAMN IT TO HELL!" She screamed. "WHOEVER THE ASSHOLE IS THAT IS DOING THIS SHOW YOURSELF NOW!"

"As always, not paying attention to your place." A man came up to her dressed as a surgeon. "We'll just have to see if we can change that while I am in there, eh?"

"What are you going to do to me?" She had heard the words 'in there' and immediately figured that this person was going to cut into her.

"Simple, I'm going to separate your ghost, then I'll abduct it and keep you with me forever, as my slave." As he said this he reached for a scalpel and began to cut along the hair line. "I'm terribly sorry, but this is going to be horribly painful, but you won't feel horrible afterward." He grinned as he began to cut.

"You, get away from her! That is not the will of our master! She is to be killed, not separated." The pain kept Motoko from seeing who had come in, but the voice was a man's. She heard the scraping as a large knife was picked up off of the surgical table.

"One cut, and it will all be over darlin'" The voice! She started clicking together the puzzle pieces. He was definitely American, as his voice had that southern twang. But what did it matter, she was about to die anyway, why not just resign herself to it and be happy that she wouldn't have to grow old and see anyone else die?

"MAJOR! CAN YOU HEAR ME!"

"Batou?" The name escaped her lips like an afterthought.

Suddenly she was awake. The Tachikoma standing over her.

"Major! Oh thank goodness you are awake! I got a call from the Chief, and then when I came in to wake you, your cyberbody wouldn't respond! I plugged in to see what was going on, but I wasn't sure I got a solid connection."

"Tachikoma, while I don't appreciate you violating orders. I'm not going to chew you out, instead, this time only, I'm thanking you. I don't know what was going on, but I think I may have just figured out something that's very important in the killing spree that's been going on."

"Why is that?"

"Because I was just targeted for murder. But this was different. I have to talk to Batou and the Chief."


	2. Chapter 2

Herald of Light: Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story. I took a nightmare I had as the inspiration for this story. I know that that may be odd, but writing comes from the soul, and dreams are the tv shows of the soul (ouch...poor pun, but anyway).

I will try to get more chapters up as I can, but I do have another fan fic that I am about to finish, so this one is on the burner, but not as fully as my other story for the moment. I have another chapter I will post in a couple of days, and I'll try to post on a regular schedule of sorts.

Thanks again!

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"It's the same as the last 30 murders. First, the target is cyber hacked, or at least so we can tell from the remains. Then they are shut down and whoever this sicko is comes in and tears them apart, then he decided to have a little fun with this one." Togusa pulled back the sheet to reveal the smeared corpse. "This one came with an invoice addressed to Section 9, definitely added after he dragged it out here, threw it in the dumpster, and then torched it." 

The Chief picked up the invoice and read it. "It's a list of several product serial numbers. Run them through—"

"Chief! Chief!" Motoko barged through the police line without giving the people even the smallest glance.

"Major, what are you doing up? I though I told you to go home and—"

"I may have just been targeted to be killed. I went to sleep and…wait a minute; didn't you call the Tachikoma when this case surfaced?"

"No, we are handling everything just fine; I saw no reason to bring you in. This especially after all the late shifts you have been pulling."

"Then the Tachikoma…lied?"

Everyone stared blankly at her. The Tachikomas had been the trusted children of Section 9, and to even think that one of them could consciously lie to them…it was unsettling to say the least.

"This is Batou; please leave a message after the tone."

"Damn." She said as cut the connection. "He hasn't given us a status report in two days."

The last 36 hours had come and gone in a blur. The Chief had put a detail out to complement the Tachikoma that shadowed her.

There was little that had been found during the tests run on her shortly after she left the crime scene to HQ only a couple blocks away. The only thing out of the ordinary was the boundary for her ghost had faded a little, not much, but enough that it was a concern for everyone.

The last three years had shown great advancements in the understanding of the exact workings of the human psyche. It wasn't enough that mankind could already reproduce exact clones, but now the human psyche was on the brink of becoming alterable.

If you wanted a memory erased, in a year or two the technology would exist to banish them.

She sipped her coffee as the thoughts raced through her head. _"It wasn't enough that they were going to kill me, but that man wanted to enslave me."_ It finally hit her what that meant. _"Slavery…that was obliterated after the last World War. But what would he have done to me…how would he have done that though. There isn't a way to tear apart the ghost unwillingly."_ The mug dropped from her hand as something else crossed her mind.

_"But maybe I wanted to…let go."_ The thought stayed there for a minute as the depression that had been barely held in the back of her ghost came barging forward to the front.

That was why she needed pills to get to sleep, and suddenly needed caffeine in the morning just to get started. Depression was a rarity among those who were in full cyber-bodies. So much so in fact that there were only three cases on record.

And all three ended the same way….

She shook her head. This was no way to think about things. She was happy…wasn't she? She had…..had…

"Motoko? Is something wrong? I thought I heard a crash or something." Her roommate was only wearing a long t-shirt and was rubbing her eyes from just getting up.

"It's ok. I just had a momentary glitch in my motor movements." Motoko lied. Sure if Keiko pressed the issue it wouldn't hold up, but it was the best she could put together this early in the morning. She moved to start cleaning up the mess.

"Well, as long as it wasn't you thinking about me in any indecent manner or anything." Keiko giggled as she walked over to the counter and poured herself a cup of the black brew and added a little sugar.

"You are a tease." Motoko joined her in the giggling. Keiko was the only one besides Batou that had ever made her laugh.

"Well, you know me, can't resist a good time. Especially since the Chief gave me the next two days off. His exact words were—"She started her impersonation of him. "—Major, you need to go and relax. Do whatever it is that will get your mind off of…" She remembered that she hadn't told Keiko of what had happened last night. "…the recent murder cases." In reality that really was the root of her time off. Since there was no evidence of her ghost being hacked, the Chief had thought that it had just been a stress-induced nightmare followed by a moment of advanced sensory.

That was something else that had been happening lately, not just with her, but with other fully cyberized people. Their minds would sense what would happen minutes before it would. Although it could never be controlled.

"Good impersonation I'm sure, but you are full of it." Keiko sat down beside her. "Tell me, what's going on? I heard you get up the other night, and I know it wasn't just the murders on your mind…that….thing…" She shuddered as the thought of having a machine in the house that monitored everything. "was really worried about you."

"Oh!" Cat just jumped out of the bag. "Well.."

"Motoko." Keiko walked behind her and pulled her into a hug. "I know I am not able to hear all of your problems, and that you want to stand on your own, but please…let me try to help you some. For all the times you've held me as I cried myself to sleep….please." Motoko felt a single tear fall onto her face from the taller woman.

"I…had a nightmare. A really bad one. Imagine everyone that you know chasing you with one intent…" Motoko dazed off at the vivid images which were now running through her mind. "And then…it was like someone wanted to tear apart my ghost and body."

"Hey, now that sounds familiar!" Keiko let go of the purpled haired woman and ran and grabbed a book. "I remember hearing an old story about a demon which would steal souls in order to build a powerful army. The way that he would weaken the person would be to give them a nightmare of their worst fear."

"I remember that story actually. There is more to it." The Major stared into her coffee. "While it is a demon and brings death to the land, eventually they will turn into a great hero….after dying."

"Oh? That wasn't in my textbook…." Keiko gave her a puzzled look.

"You won't find it there either, they only deciphered the texts a few years ago."  
"Then how did you find out? Wait a minute, I don't want to know." Keiko knew that her roommate's work gave her access to many more things than she would ever know, and she had to work hard not to be curious.

Motoko chuckled, which was a rare happening in the last few years, and Keiko knew it. It had been hard on both of them, but she thought that it had been worse on Motoko. If only there was a way to express her feelings, maybe she would see that smile that she only saw once before.

"Telephone call!" One of the Tachikoma's sprites appeared on the fridge's monitor. "It's from Batou!"

'Uh-oh, my competition calls her away from me.' Keiko thought as Motoko got up and when to answer the call in another room where it was more secure. 'What am I going to do…?'

"What's wrong Major? I know that you have been having a rash of murders, but I don't know how that would make you call me almost 60 times in the last two days—"

"Batou…I was almost killed last night."

"What? I thought that you were off?"  
"That's the point, I was asleep. In my dream—"

Batou was busting up. "You are this worked up over a dream?"

"Batou….I am serious. You know that since I was cyberized at a young age that my dreams don't work like yours or the rest of humanities'!"

"Major—"

"Cut it Batou, I'm off the clock. The Chief made me take two days off and ordered me to stay home. Thankfully Keiko is here, otherwise…I don't know what I would do."

"Cut the crap Motoko! I haven't forgotten anything about you. It's just that sigh dreams of death are normal to humans. Okay, maybe not normal, but they definitely aren't unusual. What is so special about this to get you worked up?"

"Batou….never mind…I should have known that I couldn't depend on you for help on this."

"Motoko…I didn't mean it like that..."

"I'm sure your American 'friends' are needing you right now, so go back to work." With that, she hung up, giving up on the last hope of ever spending time with him as a normal person. From now on, she could only think of him as a co-worker. A single tear went down her face.

"Keiko?" Her eyes had been closed and they shot open as an unknown hand wiped the tear away. She had expected her trusted roommate to be there.

But what she saw was something that was unbelievable, the person who had wanted to separate her ghost was standing there in front of her.

She had been hacked.

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HoL: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but then again...no I'm not :P Please feel free to review and make some recommendations. Thanks again for reading :D


	3. Chapter 3

Herald: Ok, so I decided to post the third chapter a little early. I don't have any more chapters ready at this point, so I don't know when I will post again. Enjoy everyone :)

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"What are you doing here?" She said slowly; hate dripping off of every word. This was the person that had tried to take her away as a slave, and that was not forgivable.

"Oh, who me? Well…" The figure put on a sly grin as he moved closer to the now frozen woman. "I'm just here to tell you that you might as well start running now, because we will come for you, and when we do….I will have you for my own." He held up a small jar. "You ever hear of a Genie? Well of course you have, but you wouldn't exactly grant three wishes, instead, you would become my personal slave on the Net. But there really isn't any reason for me to tell you about it now, you'll learn in time."

"What makes you think that I won't drop kick your ass out off a skyscraper?"

"What makes you think that I exist anywhere in the real world?" And with that the figure disappeared to be replaced with Keiko sitting in front of her.

"So? Are we going to go for that trip or what? I already called your boss, and he said that you deserve the break. He practically ordered me to take you on vacation."

"The Chief…ordered me to take a…vacation?" Motoko thought to herself as she placed a call inside her mind to her superior to confirm this, and to let him know what had happened.

"Sure Keiko, where are we going?"

"I always heard that the United States Empire had some interesting sites, especially on the east coast of the country. Unless there was someplace you would rather want to go?"

Motoko thought to herself, Batou was in Washington, which meant he was on the east coast. "How about in the middle of the country?"  
"OOO! It is Mardi Gras season…" An evil grin came across the roommate's face. "Hmm, Yep! Let's go! I already have your luggage packed."

How long was I in that? Motoko wondered to herself. She couldn't help but think that something was wrong, but the Chief had told her to go on vacation, and confirmed it when she called him. Even though things were rather hectic, he felt that she had been overstressed ever since the Dejima situation and that had been a year ago. Everyone else had taken time off but her. Heck, even Batou had taken a week off. Although he had gone in for maintenance for a couple days of it.

The thought of the man made her mind wonder if she really had feelings for him that went beyond their working relationship. He had saved her life on more than one occasion, and had been a loyal comrade even before that. Even though she knew that it would probably never happen, she had wondered if he had anything for her. What pushed him to take care of her so?

"Motoko! I need your help to carry this one!" Keiko yelled from her bedroom.

'Well, that's not for me to worry about now…' She told her self as she sat up and walked across the room.

Aramaki looked up from his paperwork. It was going to be hard to work without the Major, but he also knew that if her mind was occupied with these nightmares, that she would be of little use to finding the culprit.

He had come to think of her as a daughter, well, almost. Of course she wasn't his, but she didn't have parents anymore, and he didn't have kids, so the two did once in a while did go out for dinner to talk about things at the office, although the feeling was not like Superior and Inferior, but casual. Both of their lives were occupied by this organization.

'She's gone longer without a vacation than I have." He sighed to himself as he looked over her file. She had joined Public Security Section 9 four years ago, and had performed with exemplary honors being given to her.

She was truly a hero. Sadly though, no one would ever know. After her body ceased to function, or her ghost faded away, that would be it. She was incapable of having children, and he doubted if she would have been able to actually open up to any other man that much in order to provide a stable environment for them.

'She's just like me, had I been thirty years younger, and all this had happened. I would have cracked a long time ago though.' He continued reading the detailed reports that told him that the emotional trauma that she had gone through with both the Individual Eleven and Laughing Man cases would have crippled any normal human, and many abnormal humans as well.

'The world asked for a hero…and it got one in her. I only wish that there was some way that she could be shown just how much she matters….to the world…to the Team…and to me.' It was something that he had come to accept in himself. He loved her, but he knew that it could never be anything past the little father-daughter relationship they sometimes expressed. But for him that was enough. If nothing else, it proved to both of them that in an untrustworthy world that each had found one they could rely on in those hard times.

'Of course, it's the same way with the rest of my Team, isn't it?' Aramaki chuckled to himself as he closed the paper files and put them back in his safe. It was an old way of running things, but it was also one that was very secure in the new world of cyber-warfare.

-----

New New Orleans, United States Empire…March 28, 2034

"Hard to believe that this place was ever under water at all, isn't it Keiko?" Motoko looked out of the plane's port window to see the city of New New Orleans below her.

That was the name that the rest of the world had given it, but to those who lived there, it was the city of New Orleans. To them, they were proud to have restored the city to it's just how it looked at the time before that monster of a lady Katrina took their city away. The city had been spared much of the war of the last thirty years, since it was a major harbor for the continent. Being as such, it was designated a neutral zone by the splintered fragments of the once great United States of America. The city was essentially its own country complete with delegates to the UN.

But Motoko wasn't here to think about facts and figures. About who did what when with whom. She was here to relax, before her others started to worry about her ghost's ability to cope. She had not taken a vacation in the four years since she joined Section 9, and before that had gone what seemed like decades without leave when she was with the Self-Defense Forces.

This was her first time in a long time to just relax. She was safe, away from everything that may cause her harm. She closed her eyes as the plane started down towards the runway and made contact with the ground.

Just a few hours...then she and Keiko would be in their hotel room, and maybe she could enjoy her roommate's excitement.

'Just maybe…..' Motoko thought to herself as her mind drifted off, away from the worries that Japan had presented her.

"Batou," Aramaki had finally managed to get a hold of him after trying for several hours. "I need to tell you that I sent the Major on vacation. I think she went to New New Orleans."

"Why did you do that! You know that that was probably a bad idea since you have all those murders going on."

"She is on the verge of Ghost Collapse Batou!" Aramaki let the phrase hang out there for a few seconds to get the intended effect.

"…" Batou couldn't believe it. The Major…Motoko Kusanagi…the strongest person that he had ever seen, was on the verge of simply fading away?

"I sent her away on vacation because if she is put under too much more stress then she will fall apart! The world doesn't revolve around a set point Batou! It owes the Major much more than simple legacy. I don't want her to just die alone. I want her to be able to experience true happiness before that happens; at least I can do that much for her…for everything. And you, you aren't exactly helping!"

Batou was surprised to hear this coming out of his superior. Everyone knew that there was a father-daughter like relationship between the two, but….if Aramaki took it this seriously…seriously enough to want to find someone for her to be with…

Everything was true then.

Motoko was indeed in danger.

He had to go to her and make her better at all costs….

"Batou, the reason I am telling you all of this is because I am ordering you to stay away from her. You are not going to help her, since she has already given up on being in anything more than a working relationship with you. I know this because of your conversation, and my 'intuition' when it comes to her."

With those words…his heart began to crumble to ash and blow away.


	4. Chapter 4

Global News Network News file for March 29th, 2034—2018 GMT

Source: Affiliated Press Newswire

Headline: Brutal Cyber-deaths spread from Japan

Location: New New Orleans, North American Freedom Zone

Today saw the brutal murders happening throughout Japan spread to the peaceful North American Freedom Zone. This paradise, rebuilt after both a natural disaster and a nuclear war, has now become the focal point for the United Nations Special Cyber Unit, based there.

There have been three murders within the last 36 hours, all matching the same methodology as the murders in Japan. The UNSCU said at a press conference that there were no similarities among the victims, and that the murders appeared to be completely random among those who were at any level cyberized.

There has been a reward of several million euros set up by the United Nations for any information that would lead to the arrest of the person or persons who are behind these "heinous crimes against humanity."

"What a joke…the only way anyone is going to catch me is if I slip up."

--------

New New Orleans—same day

"Come on Motoko! Let's get going to the beach!" Keiko came out of the bathroom in her bikini as her roommate was just setting down the last of her luggage in their hotel room.

"Are you sure you are up for it? We just got off a 20 hour plane ride. I know my body can handle it, but you are human…."

"Oh don't worry about me; I've already taken my family's own recipe for jet lag: a couple of swigs of vodka and a cold shower. Now let's go!" She threw Motoko a bikini top. "Who knows? We may find a couple of guys to tempt eh?" She giggled at the thought of possibly having to kick her roommate out in order to have her "fun time."

But then again, she was here to baby-sit her roommate. If anything, she needed to find Motoko a man to let her blow off some steam. She really needed it.

"Ok Keiko, let me just find my swimsuit, and I will change right into it." Motoko opened her suitcase and looked through it. 'She really thought of everything.' There were clothes for everything from swimming to a formal dress. 'What are you planning Keiko?' She picked up her…bikini? She questioned to herself as she picked up what was obviously was a bikini, but was so skimpy that she was amazed that Keiko hadn't tried to get her to go out in the nude.

'Don't worry, my dear, you'll soon enough want to.'

"What was that Keiko?" Motoko wasn't sure that the voice had come from the room, but her roommate may have been trying to tell her something.

"I didn't say anything."

----------

Back in Japan

"Togusa, what is the status of our investigation?"

"It would seem that our latest murder was actually a copy cat. When the technicians did a scan of their cyber-brain and compared those scans to the ones taken from the previous victims, they noticed something." Togusa punched up on the screen two images of cyber-brain scans.

"On the left is our victim from the other night. On the right is victim 17's brain scan." He paused for a second to let everyone in the room look over the pictures.

"Ok, I'm stumped, what's the catch?" The newly rebuilt Proto asked.

"There is something missing, isn't there?"

"That's right. Each of the victims up until now were all showing signs of Ghost Collapse, a rare disorder that only affects very few—"Togusa paused as the Chief ran from the room. "—people, but usually happens when a person was cyberized at a young age."

The room was silent as everyone in the room put the pieces together and figured out why Aramaki had just run from the room.

-----

"Ooo! The sun is so bright! Help me get this sunscreen on, ok?" Keiko put her towel down and began to rummage through her bag.

"Is this what you are looking for?" Motoko pulled from her bag a small blue container. To her surprise, Keiko blushed.

"Um…no, but I don't know how that got into your bag. That's…well…um…"

"Yes?"

"It's my…retainer." She looked away from Motoko like she was embarrassed of the small wire frame. It took Motoko a second to full realize what the device was for.

"Keiko…it's ok." She leaned down and held her friend. "So you need to have something to keep your teeth straight. At least you don't have to go in for yearly maintenance and have them do who knows what to you."

"You're kidding me…" Motoko only looked away from her as she recognized the fact. "…I…I had no idea that that was what you went through having your prosthetic body."

"It goes with the road unfortunately. My body fell apart when I was little, and now to keep the one they replace it with working, I have to trust people. It isn't a question of whether or not I can or if I will wake back up. In order to do my job…in order to live I have to do it." She looked down at her hand as she ran its diagnostic and extended each finger in sequence. Then repeated the sequence backwards.

"The only part of me that ages is my ghost you could say. If it weren't for this…" She fingered the watch which was on her left wrist. "…there are times when I could think that I stood above time itself."

Keiko was speechless. She had wanted to become closer to her roommate…to her friend for a while now, but this…this was unheard of. Motoko was just spilling out the pain which she held inside. 'Trust me, Motoko. I'll stand with you.' She told herself. No, she willed herself to say, but for some reason just couldn't.

"As many times as I have stared the Grim Reaper down and won, you'd think that I would be dead by now. But for some reason, I'm still here on this Earth." She chuckled to herself. "Maybe the Devil just isn't ready for this person to come wreck his day, and God…well…just doesn't want me up there either."

It was early, so there were few people on the beach, but some had noticed the purple and blonde haired beauties holding each other. No one said anything to either though, since it wasn't illegal for them to express their feelings for each other.

"Motoko?" Keiko looked up as her best friend looked down on her.

"Hmm?"

"There's something else that…I haven't told anyone before. I don't just have to wear a retainer…" She looked away to hide the tears that were starting to flow from her eyes. "I'm not…fully human like I keep saying I am. In fact…my heart is artificial." She paused as Motoko moved her head back so she could see her eyes. "That is why I had my…break down the other day. I…can't pay the doctor's bills for the surgery. They threatened to take the prosthetic back if I didn't…give in to them." At this Motoko held her friend even closer. It was all she could do; she couldn't allow herself to express the emotions that she had for her roommate. Not now, she couldn't let her get too close…especially if things were going to get dangerous when she got back from their vacation.

"I'll…be there for you, ok? But for now, how about we enjoy the beach? It's my first time on a beach ever you know?" Motoko held on to Keiko for a few seconds longer, and then let go of her and stood up to brush the sand off of her and to set her blanket down.

"…toko! Motoko!" Keiko knew that voice, and at the instant she heard it, she could feel that the moment had slipped away for her to make her move.

"Motoko!" A man rushed up and leaned over breathing harder than normal as he tried to regain himself.

"What are you doing here, asshole?" The one real person that she knew she hated, and he showed up here.

"I….love you." Batou said.

* * *

Herald of Light: Sorry about that, I know that I left a cliff hanger (again), I just had to write in for one person Batou disobeying Aramaki.Anyway...I have the next chapter ready, but I will post slower in order to keep some people in pace, and so that I won't have to do so much this weekend, eh? Please Read and Review! Thanks for reading! 


	5. Chapter 5

**Herald of Light**: Okay, so I'm sorry for the delays, but I've been having a pretty rough time the last couple months. I have a few more chapters almost ready, and I'll start posting them until my classwork starts to overload me. I'll post when/if that happens though, that way you guys will know that things might not be so smooth for a while. Thank you for your patience

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"How long has it been without an answer from the Major?"

"It has been ten hours."

"Have you been able to reach Keiko?"

"Negative."

"When is the first flight to her location?"

"Due to military tensions between Japan and the American Empire, air flights over the Pacific have been cancelled for an indeterminate amount of time."

"Shit." Togusa and Proto turned their heads towards the Chief as they heard the explicative come from his mouth. He had always held himself on such a high level of character and now it was becoming hard for him to maintain that persona now that one of their own was likely to be a target of this hideous murder spree.

No one could tell what was going on. Not one person dared say what they all feared.

That they were too late, and their companion was now lying somewhere, having her ghost torn apart from the inside.

---

"Major system failure."

"Backup battery system failure."

"Main System Failure imminent!"

"Guidelock system failure."

---

"Batou…" Motoko looked down at the ground. It was obvious that she was holding something back, but neither Batou or Keiko could read her. This wasn't a face either had seen before. Both sensed something very wrong.

"Motoko…I love---"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Motoko leaped forward and tackled Batou in a single motion. "You don't listen to me when I call, but you dare to come crawling to me spouting those words when I'm on vacation! You son of a bitch!" She slugged Batou across the face, causing him to see stars even though his cyberbrain had been insulated against the effects of such blows.

"AGH!" She picked him up and threw him down the beach. "You stay the fuck away from me!" Batou landed with a thud and made a small crater around him. He leaned up for a second, then fell back down, unconscious.

"Mo…Motoko. You ok?" Keiko quietly asked her now heaving friend. She was close to crying.

"We…I…need to go back to the hotel for some—"

"Let's both go back." Keiko tilted her head and smiled trying to cheer her friend up. She started to gather her things and stood up.

"Keiko…"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you always there for me at the moment when I really need someone?"

Keiko was taken aback at Motoko's question. 'Had she noticed? Does she know?'

"Hmm, maybe I'm just supposed to be there for you like you have been for me." The words still hung there in her mind, wanting to come out.

Motoko took the answer and started rounding up her things. As she reached for her sunscreen her vision blanked out.

'Where am I? What's going on?' She asked within her mind, but the questions only echoed around and around.

'You, my dear, are in my lamp.'

---

"Motoko!" She rolled the purple-haired beauty over onto her back with much strain. Her eyes were blank. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number, without success. She had to get Motoko to safety. The only one near enough that could carry her was lying in a crater almost 20 meters away.

---

'I'm not alone?'

'That's correct. I alone can talk to you here.'

'Here? What are you talking about?'

She heard a click and suddenly she saw a dungeon. She was chained to the wall, nude. 'What the hell? What's going on here?'

'Oh, so demanding?' In front of her a guy appeared. He was about six feet tall, average build, blonde hair…and black eyes.

'Who the hell are you?' Motoko screamed at this person. Something about him scared the shit out of her. What was going on?

'Hmm, that's not for you to know.' He reached up and brushed her hair back gently. 'Although I can tell you that we will have a great deal of "fun" here.'

'No, you won't. I won't let you!' She tugged at the chains with all of her strength and then some, and the entire room began to phase out. The more she struggled, the more she could feel her own body, the body she belonged in. She had to get back there, back to those she loved. To the one she loved.

'How dare you resist!'

-----

"Huh? What the hell?" Batou sputtered as he gasped for air from the bucket of water that Keiko had used to revive him. Even though he was in a prosthetic body, it still responded to the same sensory stimuli that a human body would. It had to, in case of a flood or fire were to occur in the person's home.

"It's Motoko…" Keiko hesitated, she didn't want this man to touch her, but she didn't have a choice, she couldn't carry her herself. "…um…she's…" She looked over and noticed a man standing over her with a knife.

"Bastard!" Batou rushed to his feet with his own knife that he had secured in his boot. It was 20 meters that he covered in less than three seconds. The assailant noticed this invasive opponent and stepped back to meet him with his knife. The two men clashed and the grinding of their metals was heard up and down the beach.

It was an equal match of strength. So much so that the blades broke. Batou reached back to punch the man but was a part of a second behind and took the brunt of a karate chop to his left arm. A small damage notice popped up in his eyesight, showing that the arm was now functioning at 85. He had to be careful of this guy.

---

'I have to get out of here; there is nothing else that matters!' Motoko continued to will herself back towards her body. She could feel the sun again and used the rays as rope to pull herself back towards reality.

'Get back here winch!'

---

Batou stepped back and took aim to land a solid blow to the guy's right arm, which bent backward and promoted an audible snap. 'How could this guy be so strong and yet break so easily?'

"Asshole!" The man stepped back and started to yell as though focusing. "AHH!"

"What the hell are you doing?" Batou pulled his gun out and pointed it right at his head. "Stop that!"

"I don't think so." The enemies hair went from the spiked black to a glowing blonde.

"Be quiet." Batou shot him. The man fell down and was obviously dead as blood pooled from his body. "He was a human? No wonder his arm snapped like a twig."

There was a group of people surrounding the scene now. The police would be here soon, and Batou needed to get the Major out of here. Maybe if he was there when she woke up she wouldn't be so hot tempered. He wanted to be there for her, wanted to share himself with her. He moved towards her and knelt down so he could get a good look at her to make sure she was ok. It looked like she was merely sleeping

Preparing to put more of the weight on the undamaged arm, he leaned down and put his right arm around her back.

"Get…the….fuck….away from me."

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**Herald of Light**: Okay, so Batou is in the dog house. What though, you much be thinking, is Keiko's part in this story, eh? You shall see in due time...laugh lighting bolt


	6. Chapter 6

It was time for him to have some fun.

He plugged himself into his data port and opened the secure drive within. In it contained the ghosts of his three favorite slaves, with room for one more when he finally broke her will.

'It will only be a matter of time." He sat down and motioned for the women to start their work on him. They began to massage him and he could feel the pain from his battle with her begin to fade. "Fighting a person's spirit isn't as easy as fighting their body." Even in the age where the body could be made to withstand the damage from multiple bullet wounds, dive to depths of thousands of feet with only minimal equipment for maneuvering, and even manipulate heated items that would melt the flesh off of a normal human, the spirit was still the same.

A human being is made of both mind and body, with the soul being the border between the two. If one falls ill, the soul will as well. Medicine had come far to treat the body, but the mind, and therefore the soul, were still unable to be healed from outside the body. True, psychologists tried their best, and priests of all different religions could make a person feel good, but in the end it is always up to the person to determine what is best for them, and to keep going through life on their own power.

"Ah….that's good." The blond had begun to massage his shoulders as his brunette brought him a glass of tea. In this virtual world you could do anything at all. He had, in the past, been able to do the same on the spiritual level. He was the strongest that had ever trained his spirit. Because of this, he had been able to keep his soul from beyond this world. He had, in a sense, become a demon.

Or even a god.

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"YOU DID WHAT BATOU?" Aramaki screamed as loud as his voice could carry over the line.

"I…went and saw Motoko in New New Orleans."

"After I specifically ordered you not to?"

"Yes, sir."

"Cut the crap Batou. You disobeyed a direct order from your superior. I could have you fired for this, and remove all of your body parts that were installed as part of this job!" This was said to drive his point home. Without those parts, Batou would just be a cyberbrain and a reinforced spine.

"Sir, as much as I am going to hate saying this, it is a good thing he did come at the time he did." Motoko looked down at the sleeping Keiko in the darkened hotel room.

"Explain." Aramaki kept his anger barely in check as he waited for her side of the story.

"I don't know how, but I was hacked from a distance. To add to this I was targeted for a random killing it seems by someone who was way too strong for a human."

"That's right. The guy only brushed my arm and damaged it. Sure it was only about 15 of its capacity, but still, for a human that's pretty amazing."

Aramaki took this into account. Batou, for all of his own stupidity, had managed to be in the right place, at just the right time. He sighed as he realized that he had ultimately saved Motoko's life. "Very well. Batou you are on thin ice. Do you still want to be on vacation Major?" He already knew the answer in his mind. She would be so supercharged to find out who had tried to kill her that she would want to return immediately.

"Sir, I would like to stay. In fact I think it would be a good idea if I went on a road trip across the country."

Both Batou and Aramaki nearly lost their jaws as they fell open. Since Batou was in the room with Motoko, she saw how this had affected him and asked the question on her mind. "What? You both know that I need this vacation. I'm not going to let this little incident get me down."

"Hmm…Motoko?" Keiko turned over and groggily looked towards her friend with a smile.

"What Keiko?"

"Road trip sounds nice…" With that she passed back out.

Motoko smiled down on her. She didn't know why, but to see her happy made her jump just a little inside.

Batou looked on as Motoko did this. He understood, or at least thought he did, why Motoko didn't want him around anymore: she was in love with Keiko. The look on his face now betrayed this thought as she turned back around to face him.

"You love her, don't you?" This got a reaction out of her. She blushed but kept a straight face.

"I'm not sure. I know that I care for her a great deal, but I don't think that it is love. That doesn't mean that there is hope for you though." She meant for the last comment to break him a little so he would leave it alone, but failed.

"I suppose that would mean that you don't want me to tag along in case another guy like that comes after you?"

"You can go straight to hell. Where you go between here and there is up to you." She stood up and motioned for him to start walking to the door.

Batou took this chance to leave while on the best side of the Major he would ever see again. Of course he would follow her. Aramaki had sent him an additional encrypted message telling him as such, although he was to do so with minimal invasiveness. That was going to be the hard part, since Motoko was so good at her job, that if she had been the judge at Sniper school, no one would have ever graduated. (A/N: The final test at the Sniper school for the US Military involves having to hit a target in the field without being sighted twice within a set amount of time.)

Motoko, on the other hand, thought about what she had just told him about Keiko. Love for her had always been something that had confused her. Love was supposed to be a natural emotion for a human, but since she was cyberized at a young age, she never really experienced the emotion, only a mechanical representation of it.

Everywhere she turned, someone ultimately hurt her psyche. Batou had hurt her by being so reckless and trying to rush things. The guy before him had tried to change her personality on a very gradual scale to where she would have been a slave of thought to him. She had few friends in this life, chief among them anymore were Aramaki and Keiko.

Aramaki was twice as old as her though, and since he was her boss, things naturally couldn't progress any further. Keiko was about her age, only a few months younger to be exact. The only problem there was that she was well…herself. Motoko could change bodies, but kept the figure of womanhood in order to preserve what little of her own memories she could from those younger, pre-cybernetic days.

Her thoughts turned to those days before her parents were killed. True while she had herself begun the long road to becoming a full-fledged cyborg, she still had parts that were natural, and could remember how it felt to be hugged.

What it felt like to be human.

The actual feelings of a body like this were dull. Since it was machinery, it was the same heat across her entire body. She really didn't even feel her body at times, which was weird to most people, but for her, and her pain, this had become normal.

All she wanted was that feeling again. If she could have that, she could become strong like she was before the Laughing Man and the Dejima incidents.

All she wanted was someone to be able to hold when she came home. A person who wouldn't try to control her or mess with her mind. Standing alone was causing her so much pain. But when considered against the alternative of betraying her rights to be who she wanted to be, it was worth it.

Of course there had been several occasions when she had considered the alternatives. Suicide was just as easy in this body as it would have been in a normal one.

What kept her from committing to it though? She couldn't answer really, except for a general fear of death that she couldn't explain. Of course she never told anyone about this, and always covered up this fact when talking to others, only one person knew, and that person was no longer near her life at all, thankfully Batou had given him enough reason for that. She laughed at the memory of that man suddenly finding her on the phone with him finally ending what had been a bad relationship from the beginning. Thanks to Batou she had realized that the person had become a tyrant over her.

She would rest for now, and hopefully find the answer to those questions that buzzed through her mind. Keiko for now was all she had. That was reason enough for her to live another day. Laying down on her bed, she looked over and smiled lightly at her sleeping form. "This one's for you."

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**Herald of Light:** Okay, so I finally was able to go over this one thanks to the Labor Day weekend, and now I'm almost done with some more, but I want to take a moment to explain that the chracter of Motoko is probably going to split off from the mainstream of what people think she would be like. In the manga she was a lesbian, but I don't write things like that because I have respect for women. It was something that my ex made me realize when she started to get into a group of people who wrote man on man stories. The reason I don't like this is because if you view man on man wrong, you should also view the other way wrong as well. I've accepted this and have since believed it fully. So for those thinking that this is going to turn into a girly fluff, I'm sorry, but that is something I refuse to write/read.

Keiko is a special part of the story which will be made clear soon, don't worry. I'm just taking a moment and setting that straight, cause when I reread it I can see where that can be thought. I will also say that for sure Batou is out of the picture.

Also, if you know me in real life, you will be able to see that I am actually writting pieces of my own life into the story. Of course I'm putting much of myself in Motoko with the supporting characters representing others in my life. Keiko though...interference

---End Transmission---


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